218 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI 
retained their relatively low level, as compared with farm 
taxes in other states. 
In Table 71 the forty-eight states in the United States are 
ranked on the basis of the ratios of general property taxes on 
all farm property to gross income from farm production and 
cash income from farm production. Asin the previous tables, 
the gross and cash income data for 1927 were used, and an 
average was made for the three years, 1926, 1927, and 1928. 
While the forty-eight states are shown in the order of their 
ranking, as determined by the ratios of taxes to gross and 
cash income, since all of the data used are in the nature of 
estimates the quartile system is to be preferred to an absolute 
ranking. Thus, the twelve stateswith the highest ratios com- 
prise the first quartile in each instance, and those with the 
lowest ratios, the fourth quartile. This table shows that in 
each case Missouri ranks in the third quartile. This quartile 
includes states from widely varying sections of the country. 
On the other hand, the fourth quartile includes southern 
states exclusively, when gross income is used as a basis for 
comparison, and, when cash income is used, the southern 
states predominate in this quartile. 
Table 71 is valuable as corroborative evidence that farm 
taxes in Missouri are relatively lower than the average for the 
United States. The previous analysis of cash and net rent 
studies for eight states led to the conclusion that Missouri 
ranks low among these states on the basis of the ratio of 
taxes to cash and net rents. This low ranking is confirmed by 
the finding that Missouri ranks below the average when com- 
parisons are made of the estimates compiled by the United 
States Department of Agriculture. 
Taxes oN OwNER-OPERATED Farms 
Probably the most valuable of the many studies of farm 
taxes 1s the study of taxes in relation to the value of land and 
buildings of owner-operated farms in all states for the year 
1924 made by the United States Department of Agriculture. 
In many states the proportion of owner-operated farms in- 
cluded in this study represented a very large percentage of 
the total of such farms. For example, it was found that